1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stool. More particularly, it relates to a stool useful in a dental operatory or the like which is required to support the body of a user in a multitude of positions during use and which provides easy ingress or egress in crowded environments.
2. State of the Art
Typical dental operatory stools are provided with an arcuate, body support arm, located above the seat of the stool, for supporting the body of a user in a multitude of positions. Depending on the actual operation being performed by the user, the body support arm may be required to support the back, the abdomen or chest, or the arm of the user. It is desirable that the body support arm be adjustable in a variety of positions to accommodate the different operating positions adopted by the user. Various adjustable body support stools are described in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,626 describes a stool on which the body support arm can be shifted horizontally about the stool seat and also can be tilted with respect to the plane of the seat. U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,967 describes a body support stool supplied with a clutch assembly to permit lateral movement of the body support arm with respect to the stool seat. Each of those stools have the common characteristic that the arcuate body support arm depends from a support member on only one side thereof. Neither support arm is reversible. Stools of such a construction are not easily adaptable to a large number of the positions which may be adopted by a user.
The prior art construction also is not satisfactory since the stools described often are used in relatively crowded environments where the dependency of the support arm on only one side of the support member may prevent access to the stool from that side. Furthermore, some users prefer that the support arm be located on one side of the stool, whereas other users prefer that the support arm be located on the other side of the stool. This is particularly so when the stool user may be located on different sides of the patient during performance of dental or surgical activities. In the past, in order to satisfy those needs, two differently constructed stools, one having the body support arm depending from one side of the stool and one having the body support arm depending from the other side of the stool, have been supplied by the trade. Accordingly, there is a need for a single stool which obviates the necessity of having two stools to satisfy under requirements. The present invention is considered to satisfy such a need.